Category: Salvation
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There are a few citizens I’ve had trouble getting along with. One of those citizens sold drugs and harbored fugitives. Let’s call her Methany. Methany lived on a rural, county road. I’m sure her neighbors adored her. Visitors came by her house all night, every night. The kind that only stay a few minutes. We…
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Like many of my coworkers in the 1980s, I moonlighted as door security at a local bar after my patrol shift ended. Part of the job was keeping underage minors out. Fake IDs were common and often difficult to distinguish from the real thing. On one especially busy night, I tested the patrons in the…
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In the early 90s, our swat team was sent to locate an armed murder suspect. The search led us to the suspect’s family’s house. After we cleared the inside of the residence, it was my job to check the outbuildings. There was a walk-in shed in the backyard, so I started there. This all occurred before…
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“Just the facts, ma’am.” (Sgt. Joe Friday, Dragnet) One night, dispatch called me right at shift change. A guy reported an assault and the suspect had left the scene. No problem, I thought, I could knock out a quick report. You’d think it’d be an easy call. Write an offense report, explain the warrant procedure,…
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The rural crossroad is only a mile long. Yet two tornados struck this road in one day. I have never seen separate tornados hit the same spot within a matter of hours. Yet here we were. We responded after the first tornado destroyed a mobile home. While we checked for victims, another tornado arrived. After…
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Being off duty doesn’t always exempt me from strange encounters. One night while driving in a light rain, I noticed an old lady in front of me having difficulty keeping her car in the lane. As we continued down the highway, her driving became progressively worse. Suddenly, her car veered onto the median. She drove right…
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In the 1990s, during the crack epidemic, we often searched vacant buildings in high-crime areas for users and dealers. One night, three of us stopped at an empty two-story apartment. The door was open so we searched it room by room. Once we cleared the apartment, we ended up on the second floor. We lingered…
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“I once was lost, but now I’m found, was blind, but now I see.” (Amazing Grace) Ironically, one of the worst scares of my life occurred at a National Night Out Against Crime. I brought my 4-year-old daughter to the event that showcases all the technology law enforcement uses to fight crime. I had no…
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The man screamed and fell to the floor in agony. Two others tried to catch him but he was too heavy. He hit the floor and writhed in pain. His body and face contorted. My friends and I stood in the corner, laughing hysterically. We shouted, “We’re not laughing at you, we’re laughing with you!…
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On Easter Sunday 1973, Pastor Kefa Sampangi was targeted for assassination by Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Kefa had just preached in his town’s soccer stadium to over 7,000 people. After the service, three of Amin’s Secret Police followed him back to his small church. Kefa had just finished praying when the soldiers entered the room…